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Big Mama Thornton

American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter
Person human Q237527

Facts

31 properties
Instance of
human
Sex or gender
female[15]
Date of birth
December 11, 1926
Date of death
July 25, 1984
Place of birth
Montgomery, Ariton[8]
Place of death
Los Angeles
Country of citizenship
United States[11]
Ethnic group
African Americans[12]
Occupation
musician, singer, songwriter
Notable work
Ball 'n' Chain, Hound Dog[13][14]
Spouse
Darrell Jackson[10]
Genre
blues[17]
Official website
www.blackpast.org[25]
Cause of death
myocardial infarction[20]
Languages spoken, written or signed
English[32]
Birth name
Willie Mae Thornton[34]
Described by source
Notable Black American Women, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians[30][31]
Discography
Big Mama Thornton discography[19]
End of work period
1984[36]
Family name
Thornton[21]
Given name
Willie, Mae[22][23]
Instrument
percussion instrument, harmonica, voice[27][28][29]
Manner of death
natural causes[26]
Movement
Harlem Renaissance[16]
Show all 31 facts +7
Nickname
Big Mama[33]
On focus list of Wikimedia project
Art+Feminism[37]
P14750
41C4-5A25-42CD-F5B3-AB83
Place of burial
Inglewood Park Cemetery[9]
Pseudonym
Big Mama Thornton[24]
Record label
Peacock Records[18]
Start of work period
1947[35]
🏷️ Also known as
en Big Mama Thornton en Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton cs Willie Mae Thornton cs Big Mama Thorton cs Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton fa بیگ مامان تورنتون he ביג מאמא ת'ורנטון ja ビッグ・ママ・ソーントン ko 빅 마마 손튼 ru Биг Мама Торнтон ru «Большая Мама» Торнтон sv Thornton, Big Mama uk Біг Мама Торнтон zh 威利·梅·桑頓
🔖 Identifiers · 66
ISNI
0000000115070720
VIAF cluster ID
42026866
Library of Congress authority ID
n92013523
GND ID
134845617
Image (Wikimedia Commons)
Blues is a woman Reitz (Big Mama Thornton).jpg ↗
All About Jazz musician ID
10799
AllMusic artist ID
mn0000762288
American National Biography ID
1802633
Awards & Winners artist ID
01mtf4n
BAnQ authority ID
0000324525
BBC Things ID
9afcb8f8-8d14-4dd0-81a7-6499b65a366f
BIBSYS ID
7057999
Show all 66 identifiers +54
Bibliothèque nationale de France ID
13900431h
Billboard artist ID
big-mama-thornton
BlackPast.org ID
african-american-history/thornton-willie-mae-big-mama-1926-1984
CONOR.SI ID
99445091
Canadiana Name Authority ID
ncf10357211
Carnegie Hall agent ID
68684
DBC author ID
87097992328295
DDB person (GND) ID
134845617
DUC ID
big-mama-thornton
Deezer artist ID
8989
Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID
134845617
Discogs artist ID
283284
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID
biography/Big-Mama-Thornton
Europeana entity
agent/base/63049
FAST ID
1503433
Facebook numeric ID
104112189624796
Famous Birthdays ID
people/big-thornton
Find a Grave memorial ID
3958
Freebase ID
/m/01mtf4n
GTAA ID
262113
Genius artist ID
Big-mama-thornton
Genius artist numeric ID
232932
Great Norwegian Encyclopedia ID
Big_Mama_Thornton
Grove Music Online ID
A2289562
Handbook of Texas ID
fthpg
IMDb ID
nm1834088, nm1525286
IdRef ID
139921427
Internet Broadway Database person ID
495458
KANTO ID
000210487
LyricsTranslate ID
big-mama-thornton-lyrics.html
MusicBrainz artist ID
2993f855-403f-4c6a-bea9-088cd5d354dc
Muziekweb performer ID
M00000040673
NL CR AUT ID
xx0132996
National Library of Israel J9U ID
987007329594905171
National Library of Lithuania ID
LNB:rzG;=CD
National Library of Spain SpMaBN ID (BNE v1.0)
XX990587
Nationale Thesaurus voor Auteursnamen ID
101023871
RERO ID (legacy)
A006297772
RILM ID
7568
Radio France person ID
big-mama-thornton
Rate Your Music artist ID
big_mama_thornton
Reddit topic ID
big_mama_thornton
Rock's Backpages artist ID
big-mama-thornton
SNAC ARK ID
w6gf35xz
SecondHandSongs artist ID
995
Songkick artist ID
268082
TMDB person ID
1882419
Tidal artist ID
16804
Universal Music France artist ID
20000306195
WikiTree person ID
Thornton-7764
WorldCat Entities ID
E39PBJv8BxYrmTtg9TBQgTYtrq
Yale LUX ID
person/17035ae4-2cb8-45dd-8791-d1aafd6ce8aa
Yandex Music artist ID
13713
Yle topic ID
18-239580

Report an error or request removal Lineage (PROV-JSON)

🔗 Connections
Mb:performer of 4
Stronger Than Dirt, Big Mama Thornton with The Muddy Waters Blues Band, Hound Dog / Night Mare, In Europe
Instrument 3
harmonica, percussion instrument, voice
Occupation 3
singer, musician, songwriter
Place of birth 2
Montgomery, Ariton
← Performer 2
Hound Dog, Ball 'n' Chain
Cause of death 1
myocardial infarction
Country of citizenship 1
United States
Ethnic group 1
African Americans
Family name 1
Thornton
Genre 1
blues
Given name 1
Mae
Instance of 1
human
Languages spoken, written or signed 1
English
Manner of death 1
natural causes
Notable work 1
Ball 'n' Chain
On focus list of Wikimedia project 1
Art+Feminism
Place of burial 1
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Place of death 1
Los Angeles
Record label 1
Peacock Records
Sex or gender 1
female
← Characters 1
Elvis
← FactGrid item ID 1
Grant
Press Enter · cited answer in seconds

Summary

Big Mama Thornton was born on December 11, 1926[1], in Montgomery[2]. She died on July 25, 1984[3], in Los Angeles[4]. She worked as a musician[5], singer[6], and songwriter[7].

FAQs

Where was Big Mama Thornton born?

Big Mama Thornton's place of birth was Montgomery[2].

Where did Big Mama Thornton die?

Big Mama Thornton died in Los Angeles[4].

Who was Big Mama Thornton married to?

Big Mama Thornton's spouses include Darrell Jackson[10].

What did Big Mama Thornton do for work?

Big Mama Thornton worked as a musician[5], singer[6], and songwriter[7].

Related Entities

Elvis Los Angeles United States

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  2. [8] ↑ . Big Mama Thornton: The Life and Music. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  3. [4] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  4. [15] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  5. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [5] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  8. [6] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  9. [7] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  10. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [16] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  12. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [12] ↑ . Notable Black American Women. wikidata.org.
  14. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [1] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  18. [3] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  23. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [28] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  29. [29] ↑ . Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era. wikidata.org.
  30. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [32] ↑ . CONOR.SI. wikidata.org.
  33. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  37. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Big Mama Thornton. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/big-mama-thornton
MLA “Big Mama Thornton.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 6 Nov. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/big-mama-thornton.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_big-mama-thornton_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Big Mama Thornton}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/big-mama-thornton}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-06}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Big Mama Thornton — https://4ort.xyz/entity/big-mama-thornton (retrieved 2026-11-06)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 4d ago · Nicereddy · 2026-11-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Deezer artist ID → 8989
    Claims rich → —
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  2. 4d ago · Nicereddy · 2026-11-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Early Modern Letters Online person ID → —
    Tidal artist ID → 16804
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/63220|batch #63220]]: Import Tidal artist ID from MusicBrainz, also matching on name. Part1.: import Tidal artist ID (P4576) f"
  3. 20d ago · OKA bot bot · 2026-10-17 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-statements-multiple-properties-update:0||4 */ source for place of birth, source for place of death, source for date of birth, source for date of death from Store norske leksikon ([[Wik"
  4. 21d ago · AntiDerangedKhanTengriAction · 2026-10-16 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Sitelink count → 39
    Early Modern Letters Online person ID → —
    Wikipedia languages → ['an', 'arz', 'azb', 'bar', 'br', 'ca', 'commons', 'cs', 'da', 'de', 'en', 'eo',
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Early Modern Letters Online person ID: 599c1cbf-dda0-4c67-8dfd-1ca00a14a0e4, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/291194|batch #291194]]"
  5. 12w ago · Yirba · 2026-08-11 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14750 → 41C4-5A25-42CD-F5B3-AB83
    Movement → Harlem Renaissance
    Great Norwegian Encyclopedia ID → Big_Mama_Thornton
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/46467|batch #46467]]: HAND ID (7)"
  6. 24w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-05-19 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Facebook page ID → —
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/32081|batch #32081]]: import P21 and P106 from GND (23)"
  7. 27w ago · ZI Jony · 2026-05-01 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Start of work period → +1947-00-00T00:00:00Z
    Facebook numeric ID → 104112189624796
    Work period end → —
    IMDb ID → nm1834088, nm1525286
    + 37 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Facebook numeric ID: 104112189624796, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/257115|batch #257115]]"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.